Swinney Explains What Tigers Need to do to be Great Again

CLEMSON — If Clemson wants to win another ACC Championship and compete in the College Football Playoff, three things have to happen.

First, the Tigers have to stay healthy. That is something that has not happened in the previous three seasons.

Second, they need to take care of the football. Last year, Clemson turned the football over 22 times, including 13 lost fumbles. The Tigers 13 lost fumbles ranked 130 nationally out of 132 teams in the FBS.

Finally, they have to win the close games. From 2011-’20, no one had a better record in close games than Clemson, which played a big role in why it advanced to six straight CFPs.

However, in the last three years those numbers have dropped, especially last year when they lost one game in overtime, another in double overtime and a third by one score due to a pick-six in the second half.

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney also pointed out the Tigers’ lack of big plays and the red zone issues they had on offense and defense in 2023.

“The difference between 2015-’20, when we were great, we were number one in those close games. We were eighty-two percent,” Swinney said. “We were like 18-4 or something like that. In 2021, 22 and 23, we are twenty-seventh in the country and sixty-five percent. We have not won the close games.”

Besides what happened last year, Swinney also mentioned the 2021 Georgia game when the Tigers lost on a pick-six and the double overtime loss to NC State. Clemson also lost a close game to rival South Carolina.

“You are talking a few plays, and the narrative is different,” Swinney said. “That is how close it is when you are trying to make a College Football Playoff Final Four. When we were great, we won those close game, we made those plays.

“We were really, really good when it came to finishing and scoring in the red zone and not letting people score.”

What is the solution? How does Clemson get back to playing great football?

“It is the fundamentals of what we do,” Swinney said. “It is recruiting. It is us coaching, it is all of it together. It’s guys getting better. Some of it is good luck. Luck is a part of it too. Sometimes, things just bounce your way. We have had a lot of good fortune over the years.

“It would be different if we were 9-4 and getting our teeth kicked in. But that is not the case.”

Clemson will find out exactly where it is at in Week 1 when it takes on Georgia in the Chick-fil-A Classic in Atlanta on Aug. 31.